Qantas Airways Steve Duchesne, a guest from a public relations firm, stretches out in the first-class seating on the main deck of the A380. About 150 guests took a demonstration flight of the aircraft out of Los Angeles International Airport.

Qantas Airways Steve Duchesne, a guest from a public relations firm, stretches out in the first-class seating on the main deck of the A380. About 150 guests took a demonstration flight of the aircraft out of Los Angeles International Airport. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

Singapore Airlines Two of the suites on a Singapore Airlines A380 are combined here, creating a large sleeping area. The suites, designed by French yacht designer Jean-Jacques Coste, are essentially hotel rooms operating at 30,000 feet. Each of the 12 suites aboard Singapore's A380 features a...

Singapore Airlines Two of the suites on a Singapore Airlines A380 are combined here, creating a large sleeping area. The suites, designed by French yacht designer Jean-Jacques Coste, are essentially hotel rooms operating at 30,000 feet. Each of the 12 suites aboard Singapore's A380 features a... (Jack Atley / Bloomberg News)

Q: I want to take a short ride on an Airbus A380 super jumbo for as little cost as possible. Can you suggest a few short, relatively inexpensive routes that are served by this aircraft? I travel a lot and any departure airport is acceptable whether it's out of New York, L.A., or an airport in Asia or Europe. Any airline is fine.

A: Although prices will always depend on the season, date and time of travel, there are a lot of great options for hopping on the A380. One of the cheapest is to travel between Auckland and Sydney on an Emirates' flight. I found a one-way flight on that route in an A380 for $169 (in New Zealand currency), although fares fluctuate all the time. Thai Airways also flies their sole A380 within Asia primarily between Bangkok and Tokyo/Hong Kong. On the same route between Bangkok and Hong Kong, Emirates flies its own A380. When British Airways takes deliveries of their A380s this year, they will put them on short intra-European routes for crew training purposes (much like Air France did). It won't last long and the routes are not yet announced. You will also find the A380 on China Southern domestic flights Guangzhou to Beijing and Beijing to Shanghai.

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Q: I know several airlines (United, Delta, for example) now have seats that cost more than economy, less than first or business class, but are roomier. What is an easy way to find out pricing on those seats?

A: In addition to United and Delta, American Airlines and JetBlue sell extra legroom economy class seats for an additional fee on both domestic and international flights, as do a number of foreign-based airlines (Air France, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, and many others). These seats aren't usually any wider than standard seats on domestic U.S. airlines (they are somewhat wider on international airlines), but they do offer more legroom. It's not particularly easy to learn how much the extra legroom will cost you without actually attempting to book a seat on the airline's own website (these extra legroom seats aren't typically bookable on third-party sites such as Travelocity.com). Pricing depends on the route and flight. American clearly states a possible price range ($8 to $118 per flight) on its website. In addition to these separate sections, exit-row seats offer considerably more legroom, but these seats are sometimes only available for advance booking to "elite" frequent flyers. Several smaller airlines, such as Spirit and Airtran, offer cheap upgrades to business class seats. VirginAmerica sells exit-row and bulkhead seats in advance for rather steep fees ("Main Cabin Select," http://www.virginamerica.com/travel/cabins.html) with 6 inches of extra legroom (these seats also include free food and drinks, a free checked bag, and priority check-in). And all JetBlue planes have more legroom than those on other domestic airlines.

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George Hobica is founder of the low-airfare listing site Airfarewatchdog.com.

Have a question about air travel? Send it to ask@airfarewatchdog.com. Questions can only be answered in this column and not individually.

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